Close Encounters of the Dragon Kind
by picabone99
Summary: Harry's up close and personal introduction to a famous Scottish creature, long thought by muggles to be a mere myth. Eventual, implied MxM, sort of...


**Warnings: ** _Hints of MxM, implied animagus/fantasy animal sex_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own, nor do I make any money from, HP or it's amazing characters and incredible plot. I am merely playing in the sandbox._

~_Parseltongue~_

* * *

"Hey Charlie. What's up?"

"Harry!" Charlie Weasley exclaimed as he turned around. While he had sent a request for Harry's help by an owl, he wasn't holding out too much in the way of hope.

After Harry had finally defeated Voldemort for the last time during what should have been his seventh year of schooling, the "man-who-conquered'', according to all the newspapers any way, had gone into seclusion. It was usually reported that the "Savior" was mourning for all of the many lives that had been taken over the years and especially in that last, final battle; however, the Weasley family, Harry's family of the heart, knew the real reason why Harry had gone into hiding.

It turns out that the Deadly Hallows weren't just a bedtime story to tell to young wizards and witches, they were real. And when Harry accidentally united them under his control all at the same time, and was then "killed" in the forest by the Elder Wand while the wand owed him its allegiance it triggered their powers to fully activate in the slim, raven haired young man. Two days after losing the ring in the clearing where he was "killed" and replacing the Elder Wand back into Dumbledore's tomb, the items popped into existence in front of Harry where he had been resting on the Weasley's couch. The cloak flew down the stairs from where Harry had been staying in Ron's room and promptly wrapped itself tightly around Harry. The wand and ring had surged forward once Harry was encased in his invisibility cloak; the ring to find a place on his fingers while the wand sank into Harry's right fore-arm.

When all was said and done, the ring was impossible to remove from Harry's left thumb, the wand was permanently a part of his arm, and only the cloak was able to be taken on and off, although it was discovered that only Harry was able to use its invisible properties any more. For any one else, it was just a cloak now.

Harry was deeply grateful for the fact that the event had taken place in the Burrow and that only the members of the Weasley family, minus Ron, had been there that day. Ron and Hermoine were in Australia trying to track down Hermione's parents, but they were shown the events in a penseive when they returned. After much testing, and one very embarrassing event were Harry learned to be very careful about how he spoke, it was determined that Harry had become the most powerful wizard ever. Even more so than Merlin.

Harry now passed the time by writing books on Defense against the Dark Arts, partnering with Neville on the finding and raising of rare plants, just learning the things he should have in school as his time in Hogwarts wasn't the best for actually learning anything, playing with the many God-children he had, and working to find a way to bring a better integration of Muggle technology and innovation with magic. He would also, on increasingly rare occasions, help out when one of his family and friends needed some aid that couldn't be done at his manor.

Thus the surprise and relief Charlie felt at hearing and seeing Harry, even though when he asked, Harry had agreed to give the Dragon Tamer his assistance. While the soul fragment Voldemort had accidentally implanted in Harry was absolutely gone, the many years that it had been a part of Harry had left its mark. Harry was still a parseltongue and, after some experiments done out of curiosity, it was discovered that Harry could communicate, somewhat, with Dragons. The more serpentine the Dragons were, the more likely it was that Harry was able to converse with them.

Which is what lead to Charlie asking for help and for Harry to arrive on the shores of Lock Ness one early morning.

"So you said you had something come up that only I could help you with?" Harry asked Charlie, curiosity laced throughout his voice. "I know you and you wouldn't have asked for my help unless it was truly needed. So what exactly _do _you need?"

"Harry, I am so thrilled to see you that words just wouldn't do it justice!" Charlie exclaimed, excitement lighting up his rugged features. "I know that you don't like to stay out of wherever you've been hiding away just in case your more rabid fans track you down, so I'll get right to the point. I'm sure that you've heard the legends of the Loch Ness Monster, living as you did in the muggle world. Well, the legends and tales have a bit of the truth to them. Loch Ness is home to a breed of water dragon. It's been a matter of decades that the dragon handlers have been searching for a mate for it, but we've been hampered on several fronts.

"First off," Charlie said, his expression becoming rather serious. "We don't know just what breed Nessie is. Which leads directly into the second problem. Since with don't know the breed, and Nessie won't allow us to come close enough to physically examine the beast, we can't tell if we have a drake or a hen. I'm ashamed to admit, with all of the help you've given me in the past, that it never occurred to me until recently to ask you to talk to it and find out what we need to do to find a mate for the beast."

Harry laughed at Charlie's embarrassed admittance. The dragon handler had turned the same shade red as his hair while Harry laughed.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said as he helplessly flapped a hand towards the laughing savior. "Laugh it up. _Anyway_, now that you're here, the plan is to set you out on the lake in a small dingy. Hopefully, the small size of the boat, coupled with the fact that it would only have yourself in it and the rest of us will be staying on shore behind Notice-Me-Not charms, will entice Nessie out to play. At which point you could speak to it and find out the needed information. You know: age, sex, breed.

"So, what do you say?"

Harry looked over at the hope-filled red-head and couldn't bring himself to voice any objections to the man. He was rewarded by a loud, jubilant whoop as the other male picked up the much smaller Harry and spun him around.

"Thanks, Harry! You really are the best!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just when do you want to do this?"

"Well, no time like the present. Isn't that what they say?"

Harry wanted to facepalm at that, but manfully restrained himself and instead allowed Charlie to hustle him over to the shoreline and into a little rowboat. Deciding to forego the use of magic, just in case it would scare away the dragon that only seemed to enjoy appearing before the odd, lone fisherman, Harry began the arduous task of rowing out into the lake under his own muscle power. Once there, Harry settled in to wait. He was pleased to discover that the tiny dingy had been fully provisioned for a long wait and happily tore into the provided food hamper in search of something substantial for lunch. Also in the boat was a small, illustrated book with detailed information on the various known dragon breeds. Seeing nothing better to do with the empty hours, if not days and weeks, ahead, Harry settled in to read the book while enjoying the fruits of his pillaging of the picnic basket in the form of a loaded turkey sandwich.

By the afternoon, Harry had put away his book and instead was trying to find a comfortable position to take a nap in. Just when he settled in and closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the bright sunlight, a deep shadow fell over him. Harry, knowing the way his luck worked, let out a small sigh as drops of water fell irregularly down upon him. Opening his eyes, Harry was greeted by about what he expected. It was a dragon's head.

But it was vastly different than the ones he was already familiar with and had seen up close, such as a Norwegian Ridgeback or the Hungarian Horntail. Instead, this dragon had a much sleeker, more streamlined head. It also had what appeared to be _whiskers_ jutting out from it's face, making look a little bit like a giant otter. In coloration, the beast was a deep navy blue over all, with splotches of dark emerald green and a purple so dark in color that it could pass for black in any less intense light that what was being provided on such a bright, sunny day.

~_So...greetings great one.~_ Harry decided to break the ice with a play to the dragon's vanity.

~_You Speak!~_

~_Yes, I do.~_

_~It has been long and long since a two-legger Speaker has last been here. What is it you have come to me for?~_

_~I am here to ask about yourself. The other two-leggers have much interest in you and wish to know more about you, as they have never seen such as you before. They wish for this information as they would use it to provide a mate for you in hopes that you would then mate and have a clutch of eggs.~_

_~That is kind of the two-leggers. I have been very lonely over these many, many years. I do not think that they would succeed as I am the only one of my kind. I greatly desire to have a mate and raise a clutch, but I was created by a great magic man and placed here in this water to guard over something of his.~_

Harry was touched by the sadness and loneliness easily read in the beast's hissing words. Standing up, Harry gently placed a hand on the massive jaw and leaned in against the scaly skin, placing his forehead on the cold, wet scales. Breathing deeply, Harry opened his mouth and respnded without thought.

~_I wish that there was something that I could do to aid you.~_

That was the last day that anyone saw Harry until several years later, when, on the shores of Lock Ness, Harry rose up out of the water and walked back into the Dragon Handler's camp. Other than a demand for someone to fetch Charlie Weasley, the missing saviour wouldn't speak. He just sat down in the middle of the camp and stared at the two assigned watchers until they became uneasy and finally rushed off to floo the latest reserve that Charlie was stationed at. It took a bit of time, but eventually Charlie showed up at the shore-side camp.

"Harry? Is that really you?" Charlie had been puzzled at being called and at the insistence the two Handlers showed on his coming immediately, but if that really was Harry Potter sitting in the middle of their camp after missing for several years, he could understand. "What happened to you? You went out to speak to the dragon, everything was going along just fine, and then, Poof!, you had disappeared."

Harry raised his head from where it was focused on the small fire until he was making eye-to-eye contact with the second oldest Weasley son. Rolling his head from one side to the other, Harry opened and closed his mouth several times before finally speaking.

"Couple'a bits of information for you, Charlie," came the surprisingly quiet voice. "First, Nessie is a male. Second, you would _never_ have had any luck finding any other of his species as he was a created one. From what I was able to gather, it was Merlin who did the honors on that bit. Thirdly, you don't have to worry about him being the only representation of his species any more. And lastly, on a bit of a different note, did you know that the animagus transformation doesn't change gender. No matter the species. However, some reptiles are able to change around various inner bits until they are able to become a functioning female, _especially_ if there are no means of carrying on the species. And he is being continuously mated by an older dragon that has _never_ had the chance to do such before."


End file.
